Bret Schundler FIRED

It's a Start... (0.00 / 0)

But let's fire his boss next.

http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com

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by: Jersey Jazzman @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 15:49:11 PM UTC

This is no longer just about RTTT (4.00 / 1)

This raises serious questions about what kind of administrator Christie is. Is he really as uninformed and reckless as this incident makes him appear to be?

Firing Brett Schundler doesn't make this go away.

"We do not consider patriotism desirable if it contradicts civilized behavior." - Friedrich Durrenmatt

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by: KendalJames @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 15:51:58 PM UTC

KendalJames (0.00 / 0)

I agree that there may be need to focus on what kind of an administrator the governor is. But that, if it comes, should come later. This can't start as a big-picture issue, or a witch-hunt. It's a narrow-focus issue: what happened in this case?

We need to know how decisions made in the development of this $400 M application were arrived at, and communicated. Whether there was a "mistake" (or series of them), or whether there is a culture in the Dept. of Ed that fosters incompetence, or lack of cooperation with the federal government, or political stand-taking at the expense of school kids.

I don't know which - if any - of these things is going on. I don't know if anybody does. But something's wrong here, clearly. And if there are conclusions to draw, they must be drawn on the evidence, and not because there are pre-conceived notions - on either side of this issue. And I think we'll only be able to address the larger questions - like how Christie administers policy - if we do the homework of document search, testimony, and investigation. The stakes are pretty high here. We must do this right. That's my 2 cents, and I lay it down on demanding answers on what happened here -  and only widening inquiry if the evidence demands we must.
 

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 16:17:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Can we please start... (0.00 / 0)

with the first application, and why it was scored so poorly?

Ah.. but that probably wouldn't score any political points, so I'm sure we will ignore it now, as we did when we didn't get the first round funds...


"Where ever you go, there you are." - Buckaroo Bonzai

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by: William Weber (WjcW) @ Sun Aug 29, 2010 at 21:08:28 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And the search begins... (4.00 / 1)

Where's Christie going to find someone less supportive of public education than Bret Shundler? I'm sure he will, but hey, it ain't gonna be easy.  

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by: Bill W @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 15:55:09 PM UTC

called it in real time? (4.00 / 1)

He will fire Schundler (0.00 / 0)
for sure.
Good post.
by: Winston Smith @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 11:15:31 AM EDT

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by: Winston Smith @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 16:24:50 PM UTC

This strongly suggests Christie lied (0.00 / 0)

not Schundler:

It's still unclear how the error was made. The New Jersey Teachers Association produced a version as of May 27 of the bungled answer - from a draft including compromises later jettisoned - that included information for the correct budget years. The NJEA said the paper proved the administration had changed it in the process of re-writing the application to take out the compromises with the state's largest teachers union, which has been Christie's most vocal combatant during his first year as governor. The application was submitted June 1.

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by: Winston Smith @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 16:28:37 PM UTC

His replacement could be worse (0.00 / 0)

#2 at DOE, Andy Smarick, is a Bush-era hack and completely unqualified to be even interim commissioner:

http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com/2010/08/bbye-bret.html

http://jerseyjazzman.blogspot.com

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by: Jersey Jazzman @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 16:36:54 PM UTC

Difficult to imagine (0.00 / 0)

How can you be a worse or more inappropriate Education secretary than someone who scorns public education?

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by: Ms. Magoo @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 20:11:12 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I'm no fan of Schundler (0.00 / 0)

and maybe I haven't followed this correctly but it doesn't seem to me that the lost points were his fault; quite the opposite.


Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

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by: Hopeful @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 17:06:28 PM UTC

Rumana goes after Schundler (0.00 / 0)

A statement from Assembly Republican Deputy Conference Leader Scott Rumana, R-Passaic, Bergen and Essex:

"Like the governor, I was very disappointed to learn the truth of what transpired during the commissioner's presentation before the federal grant reviewers. Given the facts, Governor Christie had no other choice. His decision to terminate Commissioner Schundler shows this governor's commitment to doing what is best for the people of New Jersey."

Frank LoBiondo Record and Jon Runyan Watch

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by: Hopeful @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 17:31:56 PM UTC

Schundler's Real Crime ... (4.00 / 3)

... was making it look too obvious.

Consider:

First, Governor Christie wasn't going to apply at all for this public education funding.

Second, he undercuts a deal that the people in the trenches can support.

Third, "somebody" rewrites the language about the budget, that the NJEA signed off on, and which turns it into something which doesn't meet the application rules.

Bottom line:  It is not out of the realm of possibility that Mr. Christie wants to shrink the funding available to public education (Christie's cry to "Vote against your school budget, no matter what" ring any bells?).  He was tripped up because the review team from the Obama Administration gave his team a chance to fix the application.  Unfortunately for Mr. Christie, the Feds were also smart enough to make a record to show exactly what happened.  

It's not unreasonable to propose that the Christie Administration never wanted to get more money into public education, and that Mr. Schundler's real crime was not that he "screwed up", but that he got caught and didn't give the Governor a "heads up" about that.

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by: Cautious Man @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 18:42:42 PM UTC

The Only Way The Full Truth May Come Out.. (4.00 / 1)

is for the legislature to seriously investigate and subpoena people to testify under oath.  

If Christie balks/resists or tries to hide behind "executive privilege" he needs to be politically held accountable with "extreme prejudice".

It's clear enough that Schundler was picked just because he has an agenda of going with privatized education as the ultimate solution for our school systems.  Both Christie and Schundler want to eviscerate the unions in general and the teachers in particular.  

It's no wonder that they couldn't/wouldn't work with Obama on this.   It "sticks in their craw" to do anything that keeps teachers on the job and that might look good for Obama.

Meanwhile, let's see if these hearings are for real or just a perfunctory cover up conducted to stay in the good graces of the "Bossman" in Trenton?  Here's a chance for the Dems to show us what they're made of.

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by: Nick Lento @ Fri Aug 27, 2010 at 19:55:49 PM UTC

Schundlergate? (0.00 / 0)

What are we going to name this scandal?

http://christiegonewild.blogsp...

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by: ken bank @ Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 03:17:13 AM UTC

Schundler (0.00 / 0)

I don't think we know all we need to or all we're going to. But right now, I don't think Schundler was in the driver's seat when this school bus went off the road - somewhere south of Jersey on I-95 to D.C..

It's not a particularly snappy signature, but here's what I think we need in the next NJ Democratic State Chair.  

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by: Rosi Efthim @ Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 03:42:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

who really got hurt .... (0.00 / 0)

NJ was one of the few states that failed to get 100% of the unions(NJEA) to sign off on this grant ,presumably because of tenure and standardize regents ,,,had the njea signed off we would have been 10th it was worth 8 points .The biggest loser here are the kids specifically the 26 abbot districts which would have received 240 million of this aid .....

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by: speedkillsu @ Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 09:54:44 AM UTC

Memo to Mayor Cory Booker: (0.00 / 0)

Mayor Booker, sometime this weekend, you're going to be contacted by someone close to the Governor. Don't take that call!  

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by: Bill W @ Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 12:20:36 PM UTC